In Tempore Vobiscum (In Time with You)
by Vivian Krios
Summary: Commander Grace Shepard is a woman with a mission, and that mission involves recruiting the best the Galaxy has to offer. After recruiting an assassin, she discovers he is unlike any man she has ever known.. could something blossom?


Recruiting an assassin.. Dear god, what had she gotten herself into? Shepard pondered her newest crew member as he was settling into the Life Support area of the ship. Ironic where he was, given his earlier comment about being on death's doorstep. A tip of a pink tongue hung out of the side of her mouth, the universal sign that the Commander was in thought. It was one of many odd quirks that Grace Shepard had and most that knew her learned this quickly.

A gentle heart to the innocent and her friends and family.. A hurricane of biotic fury to those that harmed the innocent, and brought cruel injustices to the world.. Or tried to kill her. Oh that was a popular notion lately. Placing the datapad back on her desk, she walked to her fish tank and pressed the button to feed them. Watching them swim about as if without a care in the world made her envy them. She remembered a life like that.. Before Eden Prime happened, and Saren and the geth. The loss of Ashley was still a festering wound on her heart. The woman had been the closest thing to a best friend that she had.. Though Tali and Garrus were very close contenders for that role.

Grace never pictured herself a leader, leave that role to her elder sister, Seyrenity. She had much preferred the quieter side of things. Her health, both mentally and physically often was her own worst enemy. The porphyria was a fierce nemesis and even with Cerberus having rebuild her, it was still there, reaping havoc. Though no one seemed to notice, when she was stressed or under a combat situation, her "Commander" persona kicked into high gear, as it did when she was addressing her crew.

It had nearly manifested as its own full persona rather than a role she took on for moral sake. She was dangerously close to a borderline personality, a fact Chakwas brought to her attention often when she noticed the woman stuffing back emotions in front of others. But when did she have time for herself anymore these days? A suicide mission prep did not leave much time to have a good cry or beat the wall till her knuckles were bruised and bloodied.

" God's balls.. This is why I should not be without things to do.." She muttered to herself, thrusting a hand though her shoulder length dark brown hair. She looked over to the table to the picture of Ashley she kept there and sighed. " You would so laugh at me now, Ash. I'm feeling like a headless chicken these days, and I still trip when getting out of elevators, even on this new Normandy." She said to the picture, as if she were talking to a real person.

Moving to her personal console, she pulled up Thane's dossier and read over it once more. Nothing listed here even hinted at what this man was like in person from the brief glimpse into him she got. Something she had a feeling would be up to her to fix. What deal would he demand to stay on with the crew? He said he would work for her for no charge but she hardly believed that. Everything had its price. Rising with a bit of effort from the chair, she moved out of her cabin and to the elevator, pressing the button for the crew deck. It was high time she found out what Thane Krios was all about.

As the elevator reached the floor, she stepped out, managing to stop herself before tripping. Counting that as a good start to the evening, she moved to life support and stepped inside, seeing he had already started unpacking. " Hey Mr. Krios, you got a minute? She asked, waiting for him to respond. Thane looked up at her as she entered the room. For all the things he had heard of the great Commander Shepard, she was a lot smaller than the stories portrayed and the lack of eye lasers was a comforting thought.

"Certainly." He replied, motioning to the chair across from his own. Grace took the offered seat, happy to be off her feet, that fight up the towers had taken the energy right out of her but she had a duty to figure out if her new crew member had any needs that had to be seen too, such as diet, health.. Etc. " I am afraid I know next to nothing about your species.. I guess I should lead off with do I need to stock more dextro food or are you levo?" She replied, a datapad in front of her, a document file opened so she could keep track of this information.

She was very anal about her data organization and things being in proper order.. A quirk she had possessed since early childhood. " Drell can eat the same food as humans, and I have no special dietary needs, though I do prefer a good tea." Thane replied and looked at her closer. She was a rather unremarkable looking woman human wise, though her eyes held an intensity and shielded look that made him wonder if she had suffered some pain somewhere in her past. The shade of blue they held reminded him of the oceans of Kajhe, as if she had plucked the water from the ocean and stored it in her eyes.

Grace was studying him, though not as good at hiding that fact as her eyes danced along his form, taking in the sleek muscles that reminded her of a predatory animal on Earth. She knew he was swift as the wind and brought death quick to his mark.. A true hunter in most senses. Except the praying thing.. That was rather odd, given his line of work. Realizing he caught her staring at him, she cleared her throat and prayed he had not noticed the dust of color that peppered her cheeks under the faint freckles. " Alright.. And you mentioned earlier that you were... dying?" She asked, coming to the real heart of the matter.

The assassin crossed his arms before him upon the table. " I had thought you may wonder on that, do not worry, my disease kills slowly and is not communicable.. not even to other Drell. I will be fit and able to complete your mission. You need not worry." He replied in such a calm tone that it set off a creepy vibe to her. How could he be so calm about his own death? This man was a myriad of mystery and oddities, she was certain on that.

" Alright.. well I will let you get settled in. Make sure to report to Dr. Chakwas before too much longer, I prefer each of my crew have regular physicals on file." She replied and received a nod from him and exited the Life Support room. This man was yet another odd soul.. he was going to fit in rather nicely here, she thought. She also found that she wanted to find out more about him.. Intrigued by the way he handled things.


End file.
